Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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265. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the plans within his Department once Article 50 is triggered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14948/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The British Government has confirmed that it will trigger Article 50 on 29 March.

Once Article 50 has been triggered, the Government’s immediate focus will be on working as part of the EU 27 team to adopt guidelines defining the framework for the negotiations. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has committed to circulating draft guidelines to the EU27 within 48 hours of the triggering of Article 50. These draft guidelines will be discussed among the EU27 throughout the month of April, with a view to their adoption by the European Council on 29 April. On the basis of the guidelines adopted, negotiating directives will subsequently be prepared for the adoption by the General Affairs Council in May. The negotiating directives will provide a formal mandate for the European Commission negotiating team, led by Michel Barnier, and authorise the opening of negotiations with the UK, most likely in early June.

The triggering of Article 50 on 29 March will represent the formal commencement of a process for which Ireland has been preparing intensively and extensively over the last nine months. Indeed, our analysis and contingency planning have been under way ever since late 2014. This has included coordinated analysis of all the issues across Government and extensive consultation, including through the all-island Civic Dialogue, as well as with a range of stakeholders. Through the Cabinet Committee on Brexit, which is chaired by the Taoiseach and of which I am a member, we have identified our particular concerns and priorities and developed our positions ahead of the negotiations. My Department is working closely with the Department of the Taoiseach with a view to publishing a position paper with regard to the forthcoming negotiations before the European Council meets on 29 April.

The Government has continued its programme of extensive engagement with EU partners with a view to ensuring that our unique priorities and concerns are clearly understood in advance of the negotiations. It is also essential to understand the concerns and perspective of other Member States and of the EU Institutions. In March alone, I have met with my counterparts from Italy, Luxembourg, Germany and Denmark. Meetings at political level have been supplemented by numerous intensive discussions at official level, in Dublin and in other capitals. By the end of this month, there will have been face-to-face meetings with all other Member States, in most cases a number of meetings.

I am confident that these efforts are bearing fruit, as instanced by the reference made during his recent address to the Committee of the Regions on 22 March, by Mr Barnier to the European Union’s role in supporting the Good Friday Agreement and in ensuring that the UK’s departure from the EU does not disturb the balance of the peace settlement and the process of reconciliation in Northern Ireland. This is consistent with Mr Barnier’s previous public comments, as well as the comments of European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, following his meeting with the Taoiseach last month.

My Department has played a central role in preparing and supporting these efforts and will continue to do so. Given the cross-cutting nature of the EU-UK dossier, a number of Divisions are very closely engaged with this issue, as are our Missions, under the overall direction of the Secretary General. The European Union Division contains a specific team dedicated to the EU-UK negotiations, which will take the lead on the Article 50 process within the framework of the whole-of-government approach to Brexit, which is led by the Department of the Taoiseach. Ireland’s Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels will also play a key role.

We will continue to build on this firm foundation in the coming weeks and months, so as to ensure that our priorities are heard and understood across Europe and are reflected in the EU’s position for the forthcoming negotiations.